What is agency benchmarks?

Agency benchmarks are published or shared reference figures that let an agency compare its own numbers with similar firms. They answer questions like "is a 9% net margin normal for an agency our size?" or "are we keeping clients as long as others do?" The benchmarks most agencies track, with recent published figures: • Net margin: the average digital agency earned a 13% after-tax net margin in 2025, against a long-run average of about 15% (Promethean Research). • Net margin by size: studios under 10 FTEs averaged 19%; agencies with 50+ FTEs averaged 8% (Promethean Research, 2025 data). • Project margin: agencies that track it averaged 35% (Promethean Research, 2025 data). • Revenue per employee: $172,000 on average in 2023 (Promethean Research). • Billable utilization: 66.4% average across professional services firms in 2025, against a 70% healthy minimum (SPI Research, 2026 benchmark). • Client retention: 78% a year for 7-figure agencies and 92% for 8-figure agencies in a 2025 benchmark of 300+ agencies (Predictable Profits). Use benchmarks from agencies like yours. A 6-person design studio should not compare its margin with a 200-person development firm. Check who each source surveyed, how many responses it had and which year the data covers. Your own trend matters more than any single comparison. For example, if your project margin moved from 28% to 33% over three quarters, you are improving even though you are still below a 35% average. A falling trend in client retention needs attention even if the current rate looks fine. See the agency statistics pages for each figure with its source and sample.